Kyl: Concessions won't win over GOP

Sen. Jon Kyl just confirmed the suspicions of most liberals fearful that the White House is giving away too much in the health care debate.

The Senate Republican whip, speaking to reporters on a conference call from his home state of Arizona, said that even if the Democrats do away with a government-run insurance option, the GOP most likely won't support the bill that's being written in the Senate.

"I think it’s safe to say that there are a huge number of big issues that people have," Kyl said, referring to Republican senators. "There is no way that Republicans are going to support a trillion-dollar-plus bill."

Liberals say the White House is conceding some of the most important aspects of health care reform — such as the public plan — simply to try to win over a handful of Republicans who are unlikely to support the bill anyway. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a key Republican negotiator, has suggested that a bill that fails to win over most of his colleagues probably won't win his support either.

President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any bill that would increase the deficit over the long term, but Kyl said that a revenue-neutral bill probably won't get much GOP support either.

"I have no doubt that they can make it revenue neutral to find enough ways to tax the American people, but that doesn’t mean the Republicans will support it," Kyl said.

On the nonprofit insurance cooperatives that Sen. Kent Conrad and other centrist Democrats are proposing as an alternative to a public plan, Kyl said it was a "Trojan horse."

Kyl seemed emboldened by the falling political support for the Democratic health care plans, reading off a litany of polls suggesting Democrats have not yet sold the public on the proposals moving through Congress. And he reiterated his call to halt stimulus spending, saying that like on health care, the public is concerned that Congress could make things worse.

"The American people even though they’re pretty optimistic ordinarily believe that ... no matter how bad things are, Congress can always make things worse."

Kyl, though, did keep his distance from the "death panels" comment made by Sarah Palin, saying the issue was a "relatively insignificant portion" of a House bill and would soon be scrapped from the Senate version.

"None of the Republicans have said there are death panels," Kyl said adding, "You can’t control what somebody [else] will say."

Grassley has been under pressure from top Republicans to not give the Democrats bipartisan support if most GOP senators can't support a bill.

"I think his concern about having almost all Republicans opposing that kind of approach is a valid one," Kyl said.